VAPING

Last Sunday, we talked about how bad smoking is to the body. Let us continue to be informed of the bad effects of vaping, too, to our health.

This topic was also thoroughly discussed during the Philippine Academy of Pediatric Pulmonology convention in Manila last April 29-30, 2025. 

The panelists, Dr Maria Corazon Avancena and Dr Rizalina Racquel Gonzalez said that E cigarette creates an aerosol by using a battery to heat up a liquid that usually contains nicotine, flavorings and other additives. Users inhale this aerosol into their lungs.

Vape harms. It has bad effects in our body: 


1. Brain: nicotine addiction, Seizures
2. Eyes: Central Retinal Vein Occlusion, dry eyes
3. Skin: allergic contact dermatitis, Burns, Psoriasis
4. Mouth: dental carries, Gum problem, Dry throat
5. Airway: allergic rhinitis, Asthma, Chronic bronchitis, Acute eosinophilic pneumonia, EVALI Bronchioloitis obliterans
6. Cardiovascular: Increase heart rate and bp, Endothelial dysfunction, Myocardial infarction

What is EVALI?        
This stands for E cigarette vaping associated lung disease. This will result in the use of vape for 3 months or 90 days. The patient will experience the following symptoms:
-shortness of breath, cough, acute respiratory distress, -chest pain, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

If the patient will undergo chest xray/ CT/ MRI, a ground glass appearance in the lungs will be seen.

The chemical diacetyl in vape can also cause the bronchioles to become inflamed and narrowed that may result to scarring and eventually obstruction, and this will produce a “ Popcorn Lung” or bronchiolitis obliterans.

Here are some of the misconceptions about vaping:

  • vaping helps smokers quit
  • vaping is safe
  • vaping is just water vapor
  • vaping is not addictive
  • second hand aerosol is harmless

These statements are all false because vaping is bad and harmful.

During vaping, the product is called vape cloud and this is aerosol (a volatile organic compound) and this contains heavy metals like nickel, cadmium and lead. It also has nicotine, flavorings and ultra fine particles.

So in vaping, a toxic chemical residue is created. One is called as:
* First hand: inhaled by a person who vapes
* Second hand: exhaled by the person who vapes and the people around are exposed to the chemicals
* Third hand: toxic residue that sticks to surfaces and dust after the vape clears

With these learnings imparted to us, we parents and care givers should do our best to avoid being exposed to vaping. We should educate our children about the harmful effects of vaping. We should say as one, “No to Puff Ever!”.